How to backup your data on a smartphone or tablet

In our technological age, losing data is a fact of life. Technology fails, files get corrupted, and sometimes we inadvertently delete our own data. It happens. The good news is that there are precautions you can take to make sure you never permanently lose data again, whether it be creating backups on a microSD card, another device or even in the cloud.

Memory cards

One of the easiest ways to store data is to purchase a decent sized microSD card, and load it in your smartphone or tablet. You can create important copies of files on your devices and transfer those copies to the microSD card, giving yourself a second layer of protection in the case of lost data.

Memory cards are excellent ways to store large amounts of data, with some smartphones supporting up to 128GB. With that amount of space, you can certainly create some hefty backups for important data.

Android makes it easy to transfer apps to the microSD card. Simply go into your app tray, tap Settings > More > Application Manager. From there, you can go into each app you have and decide which applications to move to the SD card.

Photos and documents are just as easy. Go into your app tray, tap My Files — depending on what phone you have, My Files may be titled something else — and from there you can browse all the files you have on your device. In the case of photos and documents, you should be able to select any of them, hit the menu button in the top right corner, and select the “Move” option. From there, simply tap SD card, and your device will begin the transfer.

However, microSD cards aren’t a fail-safe. Just like smartphones, tablets, and any type of technology, they malfunction and you can lose all your data. While the chances are small of that happening, it does happen, but more frequently with cheap memory solutions.

Aside from microSD cards failing, some high-end devices just don’t support the wonders of external storage. That said, there are still some options you have to backup your data to another location. In fact, even if you have a microSD card, it’s always good to keep an extra backup in the cloud.

The Cloud

The Cloud is without a doubt the safest and most secure location to keep backups of important files, whether it be bank information, legal documents, and etc. Not to mention that, most of the time, you can get a decent amount of cloud storage for free. Google Drive and Dropbox are some free options out there, and if you run out of free space, you can purchase more fairly cheap.

You can always go into your Photos app or documents app and have all your files transferred to your Drive or Dropbox account, which is certainly ideal if you want to access them on different devices. However, there is a way to take an entire backup of your smartphone or tablet using an app called MyBackup or its fully featured option, MyBackup Pro.

MyBackUp

MyBackup is useful for those that want to create copies of all their data, such as text messages, contacts, call logs, and even your set alarms. With the free version, you can backup your data to your microSD card and restore only to the same device.

MyBackup Pro, priced at $4.99, offers you a lot more. Not only can you backup and restore to multiple Android devices, but you can also backup your data to Google Drive and Dropbox, which is important in the case of device or microSD card failure.

Before backing up anything with MyBackup Pro, you’ll want to go into its settings and set up your chosen cloud service. You’ll also make sure you’re only backing up over Wi-Fi, as a large backup like this can eat through your data plan in minutes. After all that is squared away, it’s easy to get a backup started.

Hit the giant New Backup button. A menu will pop-up on your screen, asking you what you want to backup. Take a minute and go through everything that you want to save. Once you’re done, tap OK. It should now take only a few minutes to backup all your information, based on your Internet connection.

One thing to keep in mind is that you do accumulate new files over time. With MyBackup Pro, you can schedule a new backup to happen on a daily or weekly basis. Just hit the big schedule button, and it’ll ask you to select a time period. After you choose, it’ll do all the work for you on a daily or weekly basis.

Wrap Up

If you haven’t guessed already, backing up data is important. You never know what could happen during the day, such as unintentional spills, shattering your display or even a smartphone overheating. Having backups gives you a peace of mind that you wouldn’t otherwise have in a situation like this.

Have you lost data before? What happened and how did you get it back? Let us know in the comments!